Rockin' HW

The Promise Keepers

 

You could see the dust rising in the light of the morning dawn.

Horseshoe Bend is now behind him with Julesburg just up ahead.

Samuel Jobe is just a rider of a way on which he’s drawn.

He is a rider of the mail; by his friends he’s Devil Red.

 

It’s an orchestrated movement between a rider and a horse.

It’s a promise that they keep, a ride in which they’re sworn.

It’s a run amongst the canyons on a long familiar course.

Some say that this promise beckoned them on the very day that they were born.

 

Now ride within the sunrise as fast as lightning strikes.

Your bags are filled with mail and a promise that you’ve made.

Ride within the blustering heat and moon filled summer nights.

It’s a fresh horse, a meal to take with you and get upon your way.

 

They relied upon the tenders of the stations on their course.

It was Charles Hawley at Ruby Valley and Mose Wright at Robert's Creek.

He now sees the station up a head and there standing a fresh horse.

He touches down for just a moment and then they’re off for what he seeks.

 

They rode from St. Joseph to Sacramento and the landscapes in between.

When Mr. Lincoln became president the country knew it in eight days.

The Mochila behind their saddles were filled with messages and dreams.

They were the riders of the mail and in history they will stay.

 

Try to in vision being on a hillside casting your eyes off to the east.

Below you there’s valley twenty miles wide.

Then off there in the distance there is a trail of dust billowing in the heat.

You know it is a rider and it fills your heart with pride.

 

So here is to the men that cast there lives within the wind.

They forged into the heat and the overwhelming monsoons.

Here is to the fast horses that runs a trail then never ends.

They run within the canyons beneath the autumn moon.

 

Now boys ride across the desert and the mountains wide.

It is you that we rely on to bring the message of the day.

Ride fast upon your steeds that strain with every stride.

It a promise that you honor, now get upon your way!

 

This is dedicated to the horses, riders and tenders of the “Pony Express.”

 

Michael Whitaker

October 7th, 2009